NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said in a statement released by
Wikileaks Monday that the U.S. government has revoked his passport and is
acting out of "political aggression" and fear of an "informed, angry public" in
persecuting him.

"The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of
using citizenship as a weapon," Snowden wrote at
Wikileaks. "Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked
my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration
now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to
everybody. The right to seek asylum."

Snowden said that U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Vice President Joe Biden "to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions."

"This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither
is the extralegal penalty of exile," Snowden stated. "These are the old, bad tools of
political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those
who would come after me."

He has been in the 'transit area' of a Moscow airport for eight days while seeking refuge in another country. Russian president Vladimir Putin said Monday that Snowden would have to stop leaking secrets in order to gain asylum in Russia.

"In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake," Snowden stated. "No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an
informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was
promised — and it should be."

"I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many."